Children's in the news

Here at Children’s Hospital Boston, our staff prides itself on providing world-class care for every patient that comes through our doors. But when they’re not busy performing surgeries, setting bones or caring for patients, many of our clinicians are doing research that will shape the future of pediatrics, or discussing how those changes will impact everyday care for thousands of people. Here’s a quick round up of what Children’s employees have been discussing with the media this past week.

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The New York Times‘ “Well” blog features Children’s Joshua Sparrow, MD, who answers questions from parents raising young children with autism, about the special challenges posed by autism spectrum disorders and the stress of the holiday season.

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Children’s Christopher Walsh, MD, PhD, participated in a panel discussion hosted by Big Think highlighting cutting-edge autism research. This is part of a three-part “Breakthroughs” series featuring the latest thinking and research around the causes and progression of autism.

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BBC reports on HealthMap, an online project from the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program that tracks and map infectious disease outbreaks. Children’s John Brownstein, PhD, discusses how HealthMap scours the web through tens of thousands of websites every hour looking for specific clues about infectious diseases.

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MSNBC.com speaks with Children’s Carolyn Bridgemohan, MD, about a new study published in Pediatrics that suggests the risk of autism may increase when a second child is conceived within 12 months of the birth of a first baby.

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ABCNews.com (via MedPage Today) reports on a new study by Children’s Anne Hansen, MD, MPH, and colleagues, who write that infants who die of heart-related causes in the nation’s neonatal intensive care units may represent a new source of donor organs for babies awaiting transplantation.

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Nurse.com notes that Children’s Eileen Sporing, RN, MSN, FAAN, has been inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Nursing.

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Children’s Brian Skotko, MD, MPP, speaks with ABC News Online about a study that examines a new maternal blood test to prenatally screen for Down syndrome, which has the potential to reduce the number of women referred for invasive testing for Down syndrome by 98 percent. TIME magazine’s “Healthland” blog also covers the study and speaks with Skotko about the benefits and concerns raised by this test.